Special Issues

Courthouse Threat: This Is The Guy?

Police Arrest 22-Year-Old Burglar For Threat Against Judge

August 31, 2010, 12:00 am

By Corey Pein

The dailies had this news today, but they missed one thing: The mug shot.

Police say the young man pictured here, Steven Anthony Martinez, is the one who called in a death threat to 1st Judicial District Court Judge Michael Vigil yesterday, shutting down not only the downtown courthouse, but a nearby school, City Hall and the Santa Fe County offices nearby, as SFR reported yesterday.

County jail records show he's been booked for failure to appear in court for a hearing on multiple burglary charges. That's because Martinez, who was arrested after police got a tip from a "confidential informant," evidently hasn't yet been charged with making the threatening calls.

From the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office:

Mr. Martinez is from Chimayo and was found hiding in bushes near his home on County Road 102 in Rio Arriba County. Detectives are working with the District Attorney’s office on possible charges which could be filed later in reference to the threats made in phone calls to the Santa Fe County 911 emergency center and to Judge Michael Vigil’s office at the First Judicial District Court. Sheriff [Greg] Solano stated that he is “relieved that we have a suspect in custody and he feels the public and the courthouse staff and surrounding offices and businesses can return to work tomorrow a little safer”.